Burning-kiln for bricks.



No. 683,643. Patented Get. l, |901.

.1. PQB. FlsKE. BURNING K'LNv BRIGKS.

(Applicatioxgled Dec. 17, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

J i MM. @M /(WIM: i

No. 683,643. Patented 0st. I, |901.l

J. P. B. FISKE.

BURNING KlLN FUR BRICKS.

(Application led De'c. 17, 1900.) (Nn Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

@g @Y I yUNITED STATES PATENT FFIC.

v'JONATHAN P. B. FISKE, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS;

BURNING-KILN Foa BRlcKs.

srncIFIcATIom'forming part o'f Letters Patent No. 683,643, dated october1, 1901. Application filed December 17, 1900. Serial No. 40,067. (Nomodel.)

To a/ZZ tali/0771, it may concern:

Beit known that I, JONATHAN P. B.F1skn, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Newton, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusette,haveinvented an Improvementin Burning-Kilns for Bricks, of which thefollowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, isa specication, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention is an improvement in brickkilns, and has for its primaryobject the provision of economical means for providing uniform burningof the bricks with a minimum cost of labor, fuel, and plant.

A s at present usually constructed brickkilns, especially of thecontinuous variety, are quite elaborate and expensive, inasmuch as theycontain a more or less complex system of flues leading to a stationaryand expensive stack or chimney placed usually at a distance. These iuesbeing contained in the walls of the kiln, or more often beneath thesame, not only require large walls of superior construction to withstandthe settling tendency due to repeated heating and cooling, but give avery irregular draft, because of the changes in temperature of theatmosphere, which of course affects the drawing capacity of the stackand changes the temperature of the earth and brickwork adjacent andconstituting the flues. This irregularity andimperfection of draft andconstruction results also in irregular burning of the bricks, as thebricks in certain portions of the kiln-chambers are apt to beunderburned or overburned, as the case may be. Accordingly I haveprovided the apparatus set forth in this specification, whereby thedisadvantages above set forth are obviated and rapidity and uniformityof burning are secured at a minimum cost of plant, labor, and fuel.

I employ a forced draft and have herein shown a portable apparatuspreferably arranged to travel over the top of the kiln and provided withmeans for cooperating with the tops of the chambers or with thekiln-covers, as the case may be,'at one point and another of the kiln asthe burning therein progresses. When an ordinary draft is used, eitherthat provided by a stack in usual manner or in any other way, to producea suction, the tendency is for cold air from the outside to remediedsimply by providing a forced draft' instead of a suction-draft, theforced draft causing any leaks which may occur to take place outward,and therefore being incapable of injury to the bricks either inaffecting their color or uniformity of burning.

The structural details of myinvention and various other matters thereofwill be pointed out lnore fully in the following description,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shownapreferred embodiment of my invention, and the latter will be moreparticularly defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure l isA a transverse vertical section of a kilnconstructed according to my invention and provided with my improvedapparatus, parts being broken away for convenience of illustration. Fig.2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 isa topplan view thereof.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that I have chosen ltoillustrate my invention in connection with a continuous kiln A, whosechambers aI have numbered for convenience of reference; but it Will beunderstood that my invention is not limited in its application to thekind of kiln shown, the word chamber including any division into which akiln maybe separated either permanently or otherwise. For the latterreason I have alsoomitted various details of construction of the kilnand have simplyindicated a type of the kiln and have provided the samewith openings a ythrough the roof and fire-holes a2 through thepartition-walls a3, stacks of bricks being indicated in the chambers atb. Cooperating 'with the holes a' is a forceddraft apparatus C, hereinshown as mounted on'a truck c,

whose Wheels c travel on a track c2 of any preferred construction. Atone end the-truck c is provided with a portable blower c3 for producinga forced draft for driving the air forcibly down into and through thebricks and successive chambers to such extent as may be required. Thisblower may be of any common construction, and therefore the detailsthereof will not be described. Connected to the blower is a pipe c,which is herein shown as provided with necks or branch pipes c5,projecting downwardlyin alinement with the series of holes which thepipe c4 is arranged to cooperate with,there being herein shown merelyfor convenience of illustration six of these pipes cooperating with thesix holes with which each kiln-chamber is shown as provided.

As a convenient means for quickly and accurately connecting anddisconnecting the portable portion of the draft apparatus with the holesin the kiln-chambers I have connected the pipe c4 and the blower o8 by aflexible joint c6 and have mounted the pipe c4 on friction-rolls c7,secured at opposite sides of the pipe-to the truck, as clearly shown inFig. 2. Each hole is provided with a sealing-cap a4. I do not claim thesealing-caps in themselves, as I avail myself of the kind already used;but I use them with a different arrangement for producing certain newresults, as will'be pointed out more fully later on, and in thisconnection I regard them as forming an important feature of myinvention.

The 'lire-holes are shown as provided with a projection or ledge a5 forcooperating with a sealing damper or curtain a6. This curtain carries aweight or iron rod a7 at its lower end and a plate as and hooks a at itsupper end, so that it may be lowered through the holes d and dropped inposition for sealing a firehole as may be required as the burningprogresses.

Having thus described the leading details of my apparatus, the operationis as follows: As shown in Fig. 2, chamber 1 is being emptied of burnedbricks, and as the draft is a forced draft it follows that unlessstopped it would iiow backward as readily as it would ilow forward, andaccordingly I apply the curtains or flue-stops a to the'Iire-holes a2between the chambers l and 2, thereby preventing the air from theportable apparatus from flowing backward into chamber 2, and therebyproducinga back draft and obliging it to pass forward through the hotchamber 3 of burned bricks, the burning-chamber 4, and the hot chamber 5of green bricks, and thence to the outer air. By forcing the air underconsiderable pressure it is compelled to carry the heat into every partof the several chambers, and in this connection I desire to emphasize anextremely advantageous feature of my invention, this feature residing inthe extreme facility with which the draft may be equalized in thedifferent portions of any chamber, as may be desired. If, for inesamestance, it be found that the bricks are not burningl as rapidly in oneforward corner of chamber 4 as they are in the rest of that chamber, Isimply remove the sealing-caps a4 from the holes a in the adjacentcorner of chamber 5, thereby producing a local draft and compelling thedraft to quicken in the corner in question, or if it were the rearcorner of the chamber that was being improperly burned the fault wouldreadily be remedied by removing the caps at w, as indicated in Fig. 3,which would direct a large portion of the draft to that part of chamber4. By having the forced draft, as explained, no cold jets of air canpossibly strike against the hot bricks, because if there be any leakageit is necessarily all outward, and hence there is no possibility ofdeterioration from this common cause. As the portable draft apparatus isall the time dealing with cold air and can therefore never become burnedont,it is capable of very long life.

It will be understood that I do not claim the provision, broadly, of apipe and connections with openings in a kiln, nor do I claim the blowernor the truck, as each of these is old and used separately in otherconnections and for other purposes; but I do claim,.broadly, the forceddraft, with portable means for applyingit at Various points about thekiln, and particularly the various elements of the apparatus when usedtogether for accomplishing the results already set forth at length inthis description, and accordingly I do not intend to limit myself to thestructural details, as many variations in arrangement and combinationthereof may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scopeof my invention.

In explaining the operation of the invention I have referred only tofive chambers or sections, that being the portion of the kiln fullyshown; but in practice the kiln will of course contain any usual orpreferred num,- ber of chambers and thecirculation of the hot gases willtake place through the usual' number of said chambers, commencing at achamber which is practically cold, passing through a series ofsuccessively-hotter chambers to the burning-chamber, from which thewaste gases are driven forward to heat the green bricks, until iinallywhen cold said gases escape from the kiln.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. A kiln for bricks and the like, having a series of burning-chambers,draft-holes in said chambers, and a portable forced-draft apparatusarranged to cooperate with said holes for forcing the draft into andthrough the chambers and contained stacks of bricks and means forpreventing a back draft into the chambers being emptied.

2. A kiln for burning bricks and the like, having a' series ofburning-chambers, a series of draft-holes in each chamber, a port- IOOesame able pipe with lateral branches arranged to cooperate with saiddraft-holes, and means for forcing air through said pipe into saidchamber,

3. A kiln for bricks and the like, having a series ofburning-chambers,draft-holes in said chambers, and a portableforced-draft apparatus arranged to cooperate with said holes for forcingthe draft into and through the chambers and contained stacks of bricks,combined with removable sealing-caps for closing said holes andpermitting any of them, as may be desired, to be uncovered for creatinglocal draftsin connection with said forced draft.

4. A kiln for bricks and the like, having a series of burning chambersseparated by walls provided with fireholes,removable sealing dampers orcurtains for said re-holes, and portable means for producing a forceddraft in and blowing the air forcibly through said chambers.

.5. A kiln provided with a series of burning-chambers, draft-holesthrough the roofs of said chambers, and a portable forced-draftapparatus for cooperating with said draftholes and forcing external airinto and through said chambers, said portable apparatus including ablower for producing said forced draft.

6. A kiln provided with a series of burning-chambers, draft-holesthrough the roofs of said chambers, and a portable forced-draftapparatus for cooperating with said draftholes and forcing externalairinto and through said chambers, said portable apparatus including ablower for producing said forced draft, and a pipe having branchconnections adapted to cooperate simultaneously with a series of saiddraft-holes.

7. A kiln for burning bricks and the like, having a plurality ofchambers each provided with a series of draft-holes, combined with aportable forced-draft apparatus including a pipe and connectionstherefrom for cooperating simultaneously with a series of draftholes,means supporting said pipe and permitting the same to be rocked into andout of operative positionA 8. A kiln for burning bricks and the like,having a plurality of chambers each provided with a series ofdraft-holes, combined with a portable forced-draft apparatus including apipe and connections therefrom for coperating simultaneously with saidseries of draftholes, means supporting said pipe and permitting the sameto be rocked into and out of operative position, a blower mounted onsaid supportingmeans, and a flexible-joint connection between said pipeand said blower for permitting the pipe to be rocked relatively to theblower.

9. A brick-kiln having a plurality of chambers, draft-holes for saidchambers, a track cooperating with said series of chambers, a truckmovable on said track, a blower mounted on said truck, and a pipe alsomounted on said truck and connected to said blower, said pipe havingbranch connections for coperating with said draft-holes.

l0. A kiln for burning bricks and the like, having a plurality of burning-chambers, each having draft-holes in the top, said chambers beingseparated by walls, fire-holes in` said walls, and stopping devicescapable of being manipulated from the outsiderthrough said draft-holesfor being placed in stopping-pw sition over said fire-holes, combinedwith a portable forced-draft apparatus for coperating with draf.tholesof said kiln ahead of the wall Whose fire-holes have been closed by saidstopping devices.

11. In a brick-kiln having a fire-hole provided with a ledge orprojection at one side of the wall, and a stopping device therefor inthe form of a curtain provided with a plate and hooks in its upper endand weighted at its lower end.

12. A kiln for burning bricks and the like, having a series ofconnecting chambers or divisions, means for opening and closingcommunication between them, provision forl a ire for burning the bricks,and a forced-draft apparatus for blowing air to said fire and through aplurality of said chambers.

In testimony whereot` I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JONATHAN P. B. FISKE.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. MAXWELL, GEO. W. GREGORY.

